Homer swimmers take twinkle out of Stars
by Chris Bernard
Staff Writer

The Homer Mariners boys swim team beat rival Soldotna for the second straight time with a nine-point win last Friday in the Kenai Invitational Swim meet.

Homer's girls finished second to the Stars, 161-88.

The boys scored 126 points to Soldotna's 117, despite losing two of their top-seeded competitors to disqualifications. Jamey Smith had a false start, and teammate Ben Kuhns had his race times thrown away after an official noticed a string around his ankle, which violates a no-jewelry policy.

Homer Coach Bridget Kuhns called the Kenai meet "an off day," though it didn't seem to affect the swimmers' performances.

"We had some technical difficulties," she said. "Because we were without two of our better swimmers, we had some younger swimmers who we were counting on to perform, and we had also had some swimmers in different events than usual."